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Sunday, June 10, 2012

V/H/S (SIFF 2012) - Movie Review

How many times have you gone to watch a horror movie and walked out having not been scared except for maybe one or two jump moments? Many films in the genre promise a scary, tension- filled experience, but few are actually able to deliver. The makers of "V/H/S" hope to give audiences what they have been missing.

To make "V/H/S", a group of film makers combined forces to put together a series of short films that are all tied together by one over arching story line. The primary story is that of a group of small time crooks and thieves who are hired to break in to a house and steal a VHS tape that supposedly holds some value to the person that hired them.

What they find is a house that is basically empty except for one room that is filled with TV's which have video tapes in them ready to be played and a dead body left to rot on a recliner. As they search the rest of the house, members of the group watch each of the tapes and what they witness are videos of unimaginably horrific events that seem to be real life footage and not studio produced movies.

Having one story that acts as a vehicle to tell each of the other short stories is a brilliant way to present the found footage format that has become so popular over the last few years. Not only do you see the group of men go through some seriously scary stuff themselves, but you get to watch them discover, witness, and react to the other stories that you are watching right along with them.

Each of the short films is unique in both story and style with some going a paranormal or fantasy route and others just getting down to basic human brutality, yet they all share similar themes in how evil can manifest itself. One thing I noticed to be a common theme between each segment was that of transformation which was sometimes physical and other times emotional or even spiritual.

The one truth about "V/H/S" is that this movie is scary, intense, brutal, shocking, and downright entertaining. Finding a way to put a new twist on a movie-making style that has failed more often than not, and that some feel is becoming over used, is a true challenge. The collaborative effort put in by the film makers involved in this project has paid off and given audiences what they have been wanting for some time.

1 comment
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"Finding a way to put a new twist on a movie-making style that has failed more often than not, and that some feel is becoming over used, is a true challenge. The collaborative effort put in by the film makers involved in this project has paid off and given audiences what they have been wanting for some time."

Very well written! I will have to watch this tonight, have been debating, but you just convinced me.